By Stephen Hammond, John McDonough, and Craig Russell
Background
Since its inception in 2001 in response to the report of the
President’s Panel on Ocean Exploration (McNutt et al.,
2000), the Ocean Exploration Program of NOAA’s Office of
Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) has made exciting
discoveries across all fields of oceanography. Some of the
most spectacular discoveries have been related to seamounts,
specifically the “North Atlantic Stepping Stones” expedition
off the coast of New England (http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/
explorations/05stepstones) and the “Ring of Fire” expedition in the Pacific Ocean (http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/
explorations/06fire).
OER now is in the final stages of field-testing Okeanos Explorer
(known as “EX”; Figure 1), a dedicated ship for exploration of
the world ocean. EX’s mission will be to systematically explore
unknown ocean areas and phenomena using a state-of-the art
30-kHz multibeam mapping system (Figure 2, top), a dual-body
remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is depth-rated to 6000 m
and outfitted with high-definition video cameras and a suite of
standard oceanographic sensors. The objective will be to search
for and characterize physical, chemical, and biological anomalies
on the seafloor and in the water column (Figure 2, bottom) in
order to establish a foundation for future research. These early
tests have already generated new information on previously
unknown seamounts off the US West Coast and Hawai`i.
Telepresence Operations
A truly unique capability of EX is its “telepresence” system, which
uses broadband satellite technology, allowing scientists to lead
expeditions from shore-based Internet 2-enabled “Exploration
Command Centers.” These command centers are equipped
with plasma screens that can receive high-definition video and
Ship Specifications
Length: 224 ft
Breadth: 43 ft
Draft: 17 ft
Full Load Displacement: 2312 It
Lightship Displacement: 1616 It
Speed: 10 kts
Range: 9600 nm
Endurance: 40 days
Call Letters: WTDH
Commissioned Officers: 6
Licensed Engineers: 3
Crew: 18
Mission Personnel: 19
Launched: October 28, 1988
Transferred to NOAA: September 10, 2004
Commissioned: August 13, 2008
Builder: VT Halter Marine, Inc., Moss Point, MS
Figure 1. NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer, dedicated to world ocean exploration. NOAA photo
Stephen Hammond ([email protected]) is Chief Scientist, Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Newport, OR, USA. John McDonough is Deputy Director, Office
of Ocean Exploration and Research, NOAA/Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), Silver Spring, MD, USA. Craig Russell is Senior
Planner, Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, NOAA/OAR, Seattle, WA, USA.
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Oceanography
Vol.23, No.1
This article has been published in Oceanography, Volume 23, Number 1, a quarterly journal of The Oceanography Society. © 2010 by The Oceanography Society. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy this article for use in teaching and research. Republication, systemmatic reproduction,
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BOX 5 | The NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer:
New Ways For Exploring the Ocean
Figure 2. (Top) A small
seamount mapped with
(right) a conventional
12-kHz swath sonar and the
same seamount mapped
with (left) Okeanos Explorer’s
30-kHz Kongsberg EM302
system. The EM302 data
are resolved to a 20-m bin
size. The range of depths
in the illustration are from
about 1700 m to 2700 m.
(Bottom) Screen capture
of a single ping cycle of
the ship’s 30-kHz system
showing what appears to be
an approximately 1400-m
presumed methane plume
(arrow) rising from a depression on the southern scarp
of the Mendocino Fracture
Zone (Gardner et al., 2009).
other data streams, as well as a voice over IP audio communications system. Scientists on shore will be able to view all of the
information being collected and to provide specific instructions to ROV pilots, survey technicians, and other technical
personnel on the ship.
Another unique characteristic of the EX mission is that all the
data collected will be quality assured and made available (often
in near-real time) to anyone who wants to use them. The teams
guiding the expeditions thus will be working on behalf of the
entire oceanographic community.
Seamounts and Okeanos Explorer’s Expeditions
Okeanos Explorer expedition planning will be done by means
of workshops that include both the United States and the
international oceanographic communities. Among the first
anticipated areas to be explored when EX becomes operational
in spring 2010 is the newly designated Marianas Trench Marine
National Monument, which is characterized by dozens of
unexplored seamounts and hundreds of volcanic cones, and
Indonesia, where there is a strong likelihood of discovering
high biological and geological diversity, including submarine
volcanoes. Subsequent expeditions will likely explore portions
of the largely unknown Pacific Remote Islands Marine National
Monument, a region notable for a 2000-km-long chain of extinct,
mostly submerged volcanoes.
Information pertaining to all future expeditions will appear
on the OER Web site (http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov). Given that
nearly half of the more than 40 proposed ideas for EX’s initial
expeditions involve seamounts, it is clear that they will continue
to be one of the highest priorities for EX’s voyages of discovery for
years to come.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the crew and the survey team of Okeanos
Explorer. The ship’s field trials were supported by NOAA’s
Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, the Center for
Coastal & Ocean Mapping Joint Hydrographic Center at the
University of New Hampshire, and NOAA’s Office of Marine
and Aviation Operations.
References
Gardner, J., M. Malik, and S. Walker. 2009. Plume 1400 meters high
discovered at the seafloor off the northern California margin. Eos,
Transactions, American Geophysical Union 90(32):275.
McNutt, M., V. Alexander, J. Ausubel, R. Ballard, T. Chance, P. Douglas,
S. Earle, J. Estes, D. Fornari, A. Gordon, and others. 2000. Discovering
the Earth’s Final Frontier: A US Strategy For Ocean Exploration.
US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, 77 pp. Available online at: http://explore.noaa.gov/
media/http/pubs/pres_panel_rpt.pdf (accessed December 10, 2009).
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